The good, bad and ugly side of being in WhatsApp groups

While stuck in the legendary Nairobi traffic some time this week, I did what every idle (and not idle) Kenyan does nowadays – I reached for my phone.

I was scrolling through WhatsApp, viewing people’s profile photos (where do you people get the time to update your profile picture every day?) when I realised that I am in 16 WhatsApp groups. Sixteen!

The latest one is for a baby shower. I woke up on Wednesday morning this week and found myself added to a group called “Shelly’s b-shower”. The only problem is that I have absolutely no idea who Shelly is, and have not yet got round to asking the group administrator who Shelly is yet. According to the first post, she is — to use a big word — projected to give birth in two weeks’ time.

Apart from Shelly’s b-shower, I am in a high school WhatsApp group, a chama group, three groups made up of various relatives, a parenting group, a group made up of former college mates, a neighbourhood watch group, a study group that I should have left months ago, a group that is raising funds for a wedding, two made up of colleagues, and four others I am still in due to courtesy; I feel it would be rude if I just left.

Out of these 16 groups, only six can be described as active. Out of these six, there is one that is overactive. As I write this, I have 869 unread messages from this group, so once I get round to reading them, my comments about whatever it is being discussed will be stale.

MALE MEMBER

No doubt, WhatsApp and other apps such as Telegram have revolutionised how we communicate – weddings have been planned on WhatsApp, businesses hatched on Telegram.

These social media platforms will be the death of some of us though.

Some time ago, a friend cracked up a group of us when he recounted how an uncle had accidently sent a picture of, let me be polite and call it a “male member”, to the family WhatsApp group. According to this friend, the group is made up of extended family – uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews – in short, everyone in the family tree who has a smart phone is in it, including this uncle’s wife and teenage children.

The unfortunate man had obviously intended the X-rated photo to land elsewhere, because he promptly “left” the group. As you can imagine, no one commented on the photo, everyone pretended they had not seen it and went on to discuss an upcoming graduation party, even when it was obvious that they were all wondering whether that “member” belonged to the sender, and whose eyes it was meant for.

This friend says that since this unfortunate incident, there have been four family get-togethers, and in all four, his uncle, easily a favourite among the nieces and nephews due to his easy-going nature, has been conspicuously missing. And no, no one has dared to ask his wife or children where he is. Obviously, he is yet to gather the courage to show his face.

I also once heard a story of an employee that sent her boss a photo meant for her boyfriend. She immediately apologised in a WhatsApp message to her boss, but got no acknowledgement from him. She closely worked with him on a daily basis, and after three months of palpable tension between them, she could not take it anymore and resigned.

You have, of course, heard about nude photos and X-rated videos that have ended up in the wrong WhatsApp group.

Obviously, all brilliant innovations have their shortcomings – or perhaps the problem lies with the people who use the technology.